DHAKA, Sept 18, 2018 (BSS) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today called upon all to reelect the Awami League government to keep up the trend of development in the country.
“I urge all to reelect the Awami League government by casting vote for ‘boat’ (election symbol of AL), as the people stand to benefit and their development is made if they cast vote for this symbol,” she said.
The prime minister was exchanging views with the cross section of people of Parbatipur and the people present at Dhaka Cantonment Station after jointly laying the foundation stone of the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline and inaugurating the construction work of two rail projects in Bangladesh with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi through a videoconference this afternoon.
The prime minister expressed gratitude to the people as they gave a scope to the Awami League to serve them. “I express my sincere gratitude to the people as we got the opportunity to serve them after getting their mandate,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the country witnessed massive development with the Awami League government in power for 10 years at a stretch from 2009-2018. “Real development of the country was made from 1996-2001 and 2009-2018,” she said.
The prime minister said Bangladesh graduated to a developing country and it achieved the 7.86 GDP growth, the highest in the country’s history. “We’ve brought down inflation to 5.4 percent and the country’s economy stands on a solid foundation due to various steps of the government,” she said.
While talking about the development of communication system, Sheikh Hasina said the government has upgraded Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Sylhet and Dhaka-Dinajpur highways to four lanes.
“Steps have been taken to turn four-lane highways into six lanes for further development of the communication network,” she said.
The prime minister said her government has taken initiatives for further development of rail, air and river communications.
She mentioned that the rail sector was on the verge of ruination as the BNP government took initiatives at the advice of foreign organisations to close down the sector.
“But we’ve set up separate rail ministry, established dual gauge rail lines instead of meter gauge and purchased new bogeys and engines so that the rail communication becomes popular,” she said.
On groundbreaking of Bangladesh-India Friendship Pipeline between Siliguri of India and Parbatipur of Bangladesh, she said with the completion of the project the fuel oil crisis will never be seen in the northern region. “We can do many works after finishing of the scheme,” she said.
The prime minister said the government has taken a plan to set up a diesel-based power plant in Parbatipur to raise power generation in the country. “We want to supply electricity to unions, wards and villages–everywhere,” she said.
The prime minister said her government during its 1996-2001 tenure established Uttara EPZ in northern region. “Now we’re setting up 100 special economic zones across the country and to provide electricity to those SEZs, we’ve taken steps to import diesel from India through pipeline,” she said.
About the inauguration of the work on 3rd-4th Dual Gauge Line on Dhaka-Tongi Section and Double Line on Dhaka-Joydevpur Section, Sheikh Hasina said many trains would ply simultaneously with the implementation of the projects.
“Alongside ferrying the passengers, goods transportation will be easier and trade and commerce will be expanded, if these schemes are executed,” she said.
In this connection, the prime minister thanked the Indian government for providing financial assistance to these projects.
“The people of Bangladesh are benefiting from economic uplift that has been ensured with bilateral cooperation between Bangladesh and India,” she said.
Reiterating her determination to materialise Bangabandhu’s dream of establishing a hunger and poverty-free Bangladesh, she said her government has been doing everything necessary for socioeconomic uplift of the people.